ted their post. Francis's forces were
put to rout; and he himself, surrounded by his enemies, after fighting
with heroic valor, and killing seven men with his own hand, was at last
obliged to surrender himself prisoner. All most the whole army, full
of nobility and brave officers, either perished by the sword or were
drowned in the river. The few who escaped with their lives fell into the
hands of the enemy.

The emperor received this news by Pennalosa, who passed through
France by means of a safe-conduct granted him by the captive king. The
moderation which he displayed on this occasion, had it been sincere,
would have done him honor. Instead of rejoicing, he expressed sympathy
with Francis's ill fortune, and discovered his sense of those calamities
to which the greatest monarchs are exposed.[*] He refused the city of
Madrid permission to make any public expressions of triumph; and said
that he reserved all his exultation till he should he able to obtain
some victory over the infidels. He sent orders to his frontier garrisons
to commit no hostilities upon France.

* Vera. Hist. de Carl. V.

He spoke of concluding immediately a peace on reasonable terms. But all
this seeming moderation was only hypocrisy, so much the more dangerous
as it was profound. And he was wholly occupied in forming schemes
how, from this great incident, he might draw the utmost advantage, and
gratify that exorbitant ambition by which, in all his actions, he was
ever governed.

The same Pennalosa, in passing through France, carried also a letter
from Francis to his mother, whom he had left regent, and who then
resided at Lyons. It contained only these few words: "Madam, all is
lost, except our honor." The princess was struck with the greatness of
the calamity. She saw the kingdom without a sovereign, without an army,
without generals, without money; surrounded on every side by implacable
and victorious enemies; and her chief resource, in her present
distresses, were the hopes which she entertained of peace and even of
assistance from the king of England.

Had the king entered into the war against France from any concerted
political views, it is evident that the victory of Pavia and the
captivity of Francis were the most fortunate incidents that could have
befallen him, and the only ones that could render his schemes effectual.
While the war was carried on in the former feeble manner, without any
decisive advantage, he might have been ab